Every good move starts with seeing the board clearly.
Twenty-five years teaching mathematics. Twenty-five years playing chess at expert level. One way of thinking — patient, precise, unafraid of a hard position — taught over Zoom or Microsoft Teams, wherever you are.
Three ways to work together
Every session starts the same way: figuring out where the position actually broke down, not just where the wrong answer showed up.
Math Consulting & Tutoring
From Developmental Math through Calculus, Statistics to SAT Prep — one-on-one sessions built around attitude, time management, and the prerequisite gaps that are actually holding a course back.
Explore Math Consulting →Chess Tutoring
For first-time players discovering the game and serious competitors sharpening theirs — game analysis, study plans, and direct feedback from a USCF expert-rated player.
Explore Chess Tutoring →Presentations
Talks on the mathematics of chess, developmental math, and the decision-making skills both disciplines demand — for classrooms, colleges, and conferences.
Book a Presentation →Why math and chess teach the same lesson
Passing a course is one thing. What students actually carry with them is this — in order, and each one harder to skip than the last.
Perseverance
Showing others you don’t fold when the odds — or the position — turn against you.
Precision
A dropped decimal or a hung pawn — both come from the same lapse in attention.
Patience
Neither comes easily. Both reward the repetition it takes to make a concept stick for good.
Perspective
Seeing why the work was worth it in the first place — on the board and off it.
A mathematician who studies chess the same way he studies math.
Dr. Darrin Berkley is the Mathematics Success, Outreach, and Retention (SOAR) Coordinator at Frederick Community College, and previously a professor of mathematics at Howard Community College, where he also served as chess club advisor.
He reads hundreds of student journals a year tracking exactly where math confidence breaks down — and brings that same diagnostic eye to every chess lesson and every consulting session.
- B.A. Mathematics — Colgate University
- M.Ed. Mathematics Education — Millersville University
- Ed.D. Mathematics Education — Morgan State University
- USCF Expert, top 5% nationally, 25+ years competitive play
Simple, hourly pricing
No packages to decode. Presentation fees are quoted individually based on audience size and travel.
Ready to make your next move?
One session is usually enough to tell whether the fit is right — for a course, a tournament, or a talk.
Schedule a Consultation